Joel Phillip Friedman ELASTIC BAND
II: Pure Happenchance for trio
(clarinet, percussion, and piano,)
II: Pure Happenchance for trio (clarinet, percussion, and piano,)
www.joelfriedman.com
This trio arrangement of Movement II: “Pure Happenchance” from Elastic Band created for the National Chamber Ensemble Leonid Sushansky, Artistic Director
Duration: 4 minutes
Partial Performance History
First performance of trio version of Movement II: Purehappenchance May 19, 2018, National Chamber Ensemble, Gunston Arts Center, Arlington, Virginia
First performance of the chamber septet version
October 7, 2017, Inscape Chamber Orchestra at Christ Church Georgetown, Washington, DC
First performance of the chamber octet version
April 4, 2019, the Edge Ensemble (Shenandoah Conservatory Timothy J. Robblee, Conductor Jonathan Newman, Director), Bright Box Theater, Winchester, VA
First performance of the chamber orchestra version October 2, 2015, New Orchestra of Washington at the Gonda Theatre, Davis Performing Arts Center, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. and October 3, 2015 at AMP Strathmore, Bethesda, MD
First (partial) performances of the chamber sextet version
March 8, 1996, Speculum Musicae, Kathryn Bache Miller Theatre, NYC (movement 1); February 6, 2000, Eberli Ensemble/Music at the Anthology, NYC (movement 3); June 1, 2004, New York Chamber Ensemble/Cape May Music Festival, Cape May New Jersey (3 movements)
First complete chamber sextet performance (4 movements)
January 16, 2009, Adorno Ensemble, Caine-Schulte Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Elastic Band was funded (in part) by the Margaret Fairbank Jory Copying Assistance Program of the American Music Center, made possible through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Helen F. Whitaker Fund, and Chase Manhattan Bank.
The chamber orchestra version of Elastic Band was commissioned by New Orchestra of Washington. Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, Artistic Director, 2015
First Recording of the chamber orchestra version New Orchestra of Washington. Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, Artistic Director on the Acis Label. Release date: September 2017 © 1996, 2007, 2015, 2017, 2018. All rights reserved
Elastic Band II. Pure Happenchance Program Note by the Composer (NB: these notes are from the complete version of Elastic Band. They are free for use but cannot be altered/edited without the permission of the composer) Elastic Band II. Pure Happenchance is scored for clarinet, percussion, and piano. I. Rise; II. Pure Happenchance; III. Stretch: Snap Back!
Elastic Band was conceived as a fun, divertimento-like work. The title refers to both the elastic nature of the work–which happily straddles the Classical, 21st Century, and Pop music worlds–and to a pun: the ensemble writing is often more reminiscent of a jazz “little big band” than a traditional chamber ensemble. The original scoring for clarinet and string quartet has classical resonances. But, add percussion to the mix, and a decidedly jazzy-rock tinge emerges: the Mozart Clarinet Quintet… with a twist, if you will. Additional strings, plus a second percussionist add texture, color, and impact.
I wanted all three music worlds to co-exist and co-mingle within the piece. Among the Classical elements are: the clarity and symmetry of phrases, and the three-movement design (a more serious-toned opening movement in sonata form; a quirky “Ellingtonian” scherzo second movement; and, finally, a lighthearted rondo-like finale). However, the free chromatic writing, quick tempo shifts, and irregular meters and rhythms are most definitely contemporary concert music! That said, much of the work’s detail–the rhythmic, harmonic, and gestural language–comes from jazz, or its cousin–funkfusion music.
Growing up playing jazz, rock, and classical I was always struck by how the harmonic and rhythmic materials found in some 20th Century music, e.g. Stravinsky and Bartók, resembled the sound worlds of jazz and funk. Elastic Band is steeped in that favorite scale of the 20th Century: the eight-note octatonic scale (an alternating pattern of whole and half steps, referred to as the “symmetric diminished” scale in jazz). By selecting only parts of the scale I could make a “filter.” “Tightening” the filter created familiar, “tonal” jazz harmonies. “Opening” the filter, using more of the scale, allowed for denser, more chromatic sounds. But, probably the most striking, and popular, element in both Stravinsky and Bartok’s music was their fantastic sense of rhythm. Like jazz and funk, their music has “beat.” It heavily employs rhythmic syncopation, but against that clear and strong, if sometimes changing, pulse–a trait common in my music as well.
Rise, the first movement of Elastic Band, is cast in a tight sonata form that is a “hat tip” to the Classical Style, and is a good example of the previously mentioned “filtering effect.” The tenser, more chromatic opening theme is opposed by the more expansive and tonal-sounding second theme. Motivically the movement is very organic: almost everything heard is thematically related to either the clarinet’s opening melodic idea–a falling perfect 4th followed by a rising major 2nd–or the brief, seemingly “improvisatory” rock-style drum breaks that periodically explode during the movement (listen to how they later reappear in the pitched instruments!). For you musical detectives in the audience: these drum breaks echo a figure used by Ringo Starr in his only commercially recorded Beatles drum solo (here’s a hint: it’s on Abbey Road). At the center of the movement is a brief moment of repose–the eye of the storm–that also marks the beginning of a terse, unstable, and dramatic development section that gradually re-gathers momentum and drives towards the recapitulation the opening themes. The movement ends with a scampering perpetual motion coda.
The second movement, Pure Happenchance, functions like a quirky scherzo–the dance movement!–with Duke Ellington overtones in the primal drum ostinato and the clarinet’s timbre (think of Ellington’s 1920’s “jungle music”) and even a hint of klezmer This movement relies more on juxtaposition and pop-like repetition than the classical-style motivic development found in the outer movements. The scoring is reminiscent of jazz big band writing (e.g. sectional voicings, or harmonizations, of a line in the strings) and the percussion replete with the ostinato pattern
The third movement, Stretch: Snap Back!, while often the most overtly “jazz-funk,” also harkens back to the Classical model of the finale: a fun rondolike romp. The rondo is characterized by a returning refrain. But, here the repeats are developed and rarely literal. While the opening rondo musical material might be reminiscent of Earth, Wind, & Fire meets the Brecker Brothers, the irregular meters, sudden temporal shifts, and developmental process are fully contemporary concert music. Ideas from the first movement freely float in and out of the finale The rondo idea, and the subsequent second theme, are characterized by funky, syncopated rhythms. In contrast, the central section, signaled by the first abrupt tempo change, is lyrical and broad (but over a “chugged” accompaniment) Like the 1st movement there is an unstable, “free-for-all” development section in the middle (that begins as the recap of the opening rondo) Later on a swaggering blues treatment of the second theme appears, only to be cut short by a compact, breathless coda.
Elastic Band has had a rather long and circuitous journey. The piece began as a chamber sextet (clarinet, string quartet, and one percussionist), and while it has had a healthy life in this version (including performances by Speculum Musicae, the New York Chamber and Adorno Ensembles), I always felt that it would make a great chamber orchestra piece Grace Cho and Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez of the New Orchestra of Washington graciously commissioned me to revise and rescore the work for clarinet, fuller strings, and two percussionists playing a larger battery of instruments In 2017, at the request of Evan Solomon of the Inscape Chamber Orchestra, I created a chamber septet edition: clarinet, string quintet, and 1percussion. It’s all about that bass. Most recently both Noah Getz at American University and Jonathan Newman at Shenandoah Conservatory requested an octet version: clarinet, string quintet, and 2 percussion. I do prefer these editions to the original sextet version. Finally, Leonid Shushansky of the National Chamber Ensemble premiered a trio arrangement (clarinet, piano, and percussion) of the 2nd movement, “Pure Happenchance” in Spring 2018. A full, 3 movement trio edition is in the works.
Joel Phillip Friedman–February 2018 Washington, D.C. www.joelfriedman.com
